A lot off the top, but all for charity

Shave-a-thon held for youth cancer

P.K. Marshall, 29, managed to keep his hair out of his beer yesterday while he had his head shaved for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation charity by stylist Jamie Sweetin as part of a national effort to raise funds for pediatric cancer research.
— David Brooks / Union-Tribune

P.K. Marshall, 29, managed to keep his hair out of his beer yesterday while he had his head shaved for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation charity by stylist Jamie Sweetin as part of a national effort to raise funds for pediatric cancer research.
— David Brooks / Union-Tribune

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO  The haircut that Arturo Kassel got yesterday was unlike any in the past.

For starters, a crowd of about 100 people watched as a stylist dragged electric clippers across Kassel’s scalp while sitting in a downtown San Diego restaurant and bar. It took only three minutes for Kassel’s thick, wavy, jet-black locks to be reduced to a barely visible carpet of stubble.

“I need to go by a mirror immediately,” Kassel, 30, said as he bounded from his stool and headed for the restroom.

Kassel and 26 other men took part in the St. Baldrick’s Shave-a-thon, a series of events at 630 sites around the world that raise money for children’s cancer research and treatment. The one in San Diego yesterday marked the second time the annual fundraiser was held in the city.

P.K. Marshall, 29, and his friend and fellow Pacific Beach resident Jake Pescatello, 32, started the local event last year after hearing about it from participants in other cities.

“You have a lot of young professionals in San Diego who are making decent money and are willing to give something for a cause,” said Marshall, a sales vice president for Advisors Asset Management in the Sorrento Valley area.

The event raised more than $16,000, topping last year’s mark of $13,000, organizers said.

St. Baldrick’s was created March 17, 2000, when three California insurance executives turned their St. Patrick’s Day party into a benefit for children with cancer. Since then, more than 108,000 men — and women — in 24 countries have shaved their heads in support of the nonprofit foundation that emerged.

Of course, there is no saint named Baldrick. Instead, the event’s title is an Irish-themed play on the word “bald.”

Last year, the Monrovia-based charity provided more than $12 million to researchers, universities and hospitals.

A $100,000 grant went to the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California to create a long-term, follow-up care center that will track pediatric cancer patients into adulthood.

Much of the money raised by the St. Baldrick’s Foundation comes from donations made by family members and friends of those who get sheared and from the sale of shirts, food and drinks at the shave-a-thons.

Those who gathered in San Diego at Basic Urban Kitchen and Bar in East Village ate pizza, sipped beer and put on black-and-green St. Baldrick’s T-shirts before the clipping started at 1 p.m.

“You have a great shaved head!” a woman shouted as the last patches of hair fell from Kassel’s crown.

Kassel, a co-owner of the Whisknladel and Prepkitchen restaurants in La Jolla, was hoping he would get a similar response later in the day from his wife when he stopped at a baby shower celebrating the upcoming birth of their first child.

“She’s very supportive,” said Kassel, who raised $1,500 for the shave-a-thon.

The day’s top fundraiser was Mike McAllister, 52, an owner of the Hold It Contemporary Home store in Mission Valley. He collected $2,150.

McAllister said he was drawn to the charity by its mission and the fact that the organization spends 80 percent of the money it collects on research and treatment efforts.

“I like to give back to the community, and I try to give it to children,” he said.